Sirius-XM merger approved

Yeah, but Stern accounts for probably at least 1/2-3/4 billion in subscription revenue and who knows how much in advertising revenue.

The startup costs were apparently astronomical. They had to aquire and position satelites, build studios, build recievers, hire talent, aquire rights like the NFL and market it all before seeing one subscription dollar.

Then the economy takes a dump while the merger gets delayed for a record 15 months or so by the sec even after the justice department ok'd the deal.

That was brilliant, the fuckin sec is letting Bernard Madoff steal billions from US citizens right under their nose while they are busy scrutinizing a radio merger all because of a grudge the fcc and the Bush administration have with satelite radio being uncensored.

This is where the enormous debt comes from it seems. Satelite radio isn't going anywhere. They cannot only be solvent, they will probably become a powerhouse company sooner than later.

 

I wonder if the slumping car industry is also having a negative effect on new subscribers? It would seem if not many people are buying new cars then Sirius is not getting those new subscribers it is used to getting. That is/was like a built in market for Sirius.

 

It's got to be killing them. It's also one of the reasons for the merger. They were beating each other up financially for those auto deals.

 

See if you can make any sense from this...

Sirius 9/30/2008 Cash Flow Statement

One question I would have would be what is the huge non cash item in the operating section? I freaking hate any line item with "other" in the title. What the heck is the "other" investing cash flow item? The huge negative number in the financing section is indicative of Sirius paying off debt I think. That's a shit load of debt.

 

Maybe we should have Dave review it. His math so far in this thread has been nothing short of outstanding.

 

Pi, I believe it was the FCC holding them up led by the clown Commioner Martin from Waxhaw.

 

The $4,786M and the $828M are related to the merger. Without a breakdown, it's hard to say what those numbers represent, but they're skewing the net #.

The important part is the operating loss, but they had turned it around midyear.

I'm a fan, and a loyal subscriber. I hope they refi, and even better, I hope they get relief from some of those huge contractual salaries.

Oh, and my brother told me that Fudge Packer took a shot at Gary Williams tonight on his show. Some kind of snarky remark to one of his on air goons about "it could be worse, you could have left to go work for bankrupt satellite radio". Even if Sirius does tank, is there a more pathetic, bitter, jealous piece of human garbage than Mark "Fudge" Packer?

 

Packer is probably jealous.

Worst case scenario is they file bankruptcy to avoid a hostile takeover through debt purchasing. That would allow them some relief and the ability to restructure contracts. It seems now they are in talks with someone to be bought.

Either way satelite radio isn't going away. The expensive part is over and once the company is restructured, it will do very well.

 

It was the sec debating if it was a monopoly.

 

Nope, twas definitely the FCC, but whatever. It's approved now, Thank Jesus.